To the woman he said, “I will
surely multiply your pain in
childbearing; in pain you shall
bring forth children. Your desire
shall be for your husband, and he
shall rule over you.”
(Genesis 3:16)
ESV

Behold, I was brought forth in
iniquity, and in sin did my mother
conceive me.(Psalm 51:5)
ESV

Behold, children are a heritage
from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a
warrior are the children of one's
youth. Blessed is the man who
fills his quiver with them! He
shall not be put to shame when he
speaks with his enemies in the
gate.(Psalm 127:3-5)
ESV

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my
mother's womb. I praise you, for I
am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul
knows it very well. My frame was
not hidden from you, when I was
being made in secret, intricately
woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed
substance; in your book were
written, every one of them, the
days that were formed for me, when
as yet there was none of them.(Psalm 139:13-16)
ESV

A good name is better than
precious ointment, and the day of
death than the day of birth.(Ecclesiastes 7:1)
ESV

Thus says the
Lord who made you, who
formed you from the womb and will
help you: Fear not, O Jacob my
servant, Jeshurun whom I have
chosen.(Isaiah 44:2)
ESV

“Before I formed you in the womb I
knew you, and before you were born
I consecrated you; I appointed you
a prophet to the nations.”(Jeremiah 1:5)
ESV

But when Herod's birthday came,
the daughter of Herodias danced
before the company and pleased
Herod,
(Matthew 14:6)
ESV

Inspirational Quotes from Famous People

Why is it that we rejoice at a
birth and grieve at a funeral? It
is because we are not the person
involved.--Mark
Twain – American Author 1835-1910

I think, at a child's birth, if a
mother could ask a fairy godmother
to endow it with the most useful
gift, that gift should be
curiosity.--Eleanor
Roosevelt – American First Lady
1884-1962

Death, like birth, is a secret of
Nature.--Marcus
Aurelius – Roman Soldier 121-180

The act of birth is the first
experience of anxiety, and thus
the source and prototype of the
affect of anxiety.--Sigmund
Freud - Austrian Psychologist
1856-1939

Never lend your car to anyone to
whom you have given birth.--Erma
Bombeck – American Journalist
1927-1996

I had seen birth and death but had
thought they were different.--T. S.
Eliot – American Poet 1888-1965

Even though people may be well
known, they hold in their hearts
the emotions of a simple person
for the moments that are the most
important of those we know on
earth: birth, marriage and death.--Jackie
Kennedy – American First Lady
1929-1994

After your death you will be what
you were before your birth.--Arthur
Schopenhauer – German Philosopher
1788-1860

A man is great by deeds, not by
birth.--Chanakya
– Indian Politician 350 BC – 275
BC

The two big advantages I had at
birth were to have been born wise
and to have been born in poverty.--Sophia
Loren – Italian Actress Born 1934

What you are, you are by accident
of birth; what I am, I am by
myself. There are and will be a
thousand princes; there is only
one Beethoven.--Ludwig
van Beethoven – German Composer
1770-1827

There is no cure for birth and
death save to enjoy the interval.--George
Santayana – American Philosopher
1863-1952

The main facts in human life are
five: birth, food, sleep, love and
death.--E. M.
Forster – English Novelist
1879-1970

From birth, man carries the weight
of gravity on his shoulders. He is
bolted to earth. But man has only
to sink beneath the surface and he
is free.--Jacques
Yves Cousteau – French Explorer
1910-1997

But whoever gives birth to useless
children, what would you say of
him except that he has bred
sorrows for himself, and furnishes
laughter for his enemies.--Sophocles
– Greek Poet 496 BC – 406 BC

To give birth is a fearsome thing;
there is no hating the child one
has borne even when injured by it.--Sophocles
– Greek Poet 496 BC – 406 BC6

Birth and the BibleProfessional midwives assisted at confinements (Genesis 35:17 describes Rachel bearing her last son; Exodus 1:15 to the Hebrew midwives in Egypt).

Exodus 1:16 suggests that a woman in labour sat on a birth-chair. On the other hand, children are also described as being born “on the knees of” another person (Genesis 30:3;
50:23;
Job 3:12). Many authors have concluded from this that childbirth took place on the knees of a midwife or relative helping the mother.

Two Egyptian hieroglyphic signs meaning “to give birth” show that the Egyptians had noted the occipital position of the head in a normal birth, and that Egyptian women followed the common practice among early peoples and adopted a squatting rather than recumbent position during labour.

In cases of multiple births, the rights of the first-born were jealously guarded and the birth sequence carefully noted (Genesis 25:25;
38:27).

Contraception was frowned on by the ancient Israelites. ‘Frowned on’ is perhaps too mild: in the story of Tamar (Genesis 38), Tamar’s husband Onan practises withdrawal before ejaculation, thus preventing Tamar from conceiving. God kills him as a punishment. ‘he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went in to his brother’s wife (Tamar was a widow who according to the Levirate Law had to marry her dead husband’s brother) so that he would not give offspring to his brother. What he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death.’5

Testimonials and Comments

Definition of Birth

1. a. The emergence and separation of offspring from the body of the mother.

b. The act or process of bearing young; parturition: the mare's second birth.

c. The circumstances or conditions relating to this event, as its time or location: an incident that took place before my birth; a Bostonian by birth.

2. a. The set of characteristics or circumstances received from one's ancestors; inheritance: strong-willed by birth; acquired their wealth through birth.